Mailer's 'Hello Herman' raises questions, disturbing answers

NORTH EASTHAM — The play opens with a teenage girl begging for Jesus to protect her while a boy holds her by her hair, twisting her neck, then shooting her dead.

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By K.C. MYERS

capecodtimes.com

By K.C. MYERS

Posted Feb. 28, 2014 at 2:00 AM

By K.C. MYERS
Posted Feb. 28, 2014 at 2:00 AM

» Social News

NORTH EASTHAM — The play opens with a teenage girl begging for Jesus to protect her while a boy holds her by her hair, twisting her neck, then shooting her dead.

The 40-minute rendition of the play "Hello Herman," by John Buffalo Mailer, was performed by the Nauset High School Players Thursday before a large audience. The play tells the story of a fictional school shooting in Iowa's Broome High School in which a student, Herman Howards, kills 42 people. The shooting draws national media attention and leads to Howards' execution on live TV.

"I wrote the play 15 years ago in response to Columbine," said Mailer, the son of the late author Norman Mailer, during a question-and-answer session with cast, crew and the audience after the show.

At the time, "I hoped it would be a period piece," Mailer said.

Instead, the school violence and mass shootings have continued, he said. The play has been performed about 15 times mostly at high schools and colleges, Mailer said.

The main character, Howards, played by Cody Pimental, doesn't kill himself and in fact grants an interview with blogger/journalist, Lax Morales, (note the name) played by Jonas Greenblatt. This leads to a rare glimpse at the factors that caused the shooter to crack.

Howards was bullied. His parents were not around much due to divorce and work. His little sister got struck and killed by a car, with young Herman the only one home when it happens outside their house.

Howards tell Morales he wants to "leave his mark" and is, in fact, seeking a place in the history books with his awful act.

After the shooting, the play looks closely at the media's treatment of the story. There's a blood-thirsty conservative commentator, Chet Clarkson, played by Madeline Dexter, who calls on the "freak" to be executed on live television, a view expressed by a senator as well. Other reporters buzz around in the tragedy's aftermath with equal blood lust to get all the gory details.

As with every school shooting, the audience never receives a clear answer on why this happened, or what can be done to prevent it.

But afterward, the teenage cast members and the playwright offered their views on what the play taught them.

"It was a perfect storm, early childhood trauma ... bullying, social media. ... It's never just one thing," Mailer said.

When something like this happens there's "17 signs everyone can point to afterward," said Mailer, adding that the coverage of the 1999 Columbine High School massacre left him cold.

He did some research and said he found the competitive mainstream news coverage of these events sensational, without getting to a dialogue on the root causes.

"In the end, it's really about being nice to each other," Mailer said.

The teenager actors got the same message.

"Please," Greenblatt said to the audience, "I challenge each and every one of you when you walk out of here, tomorrow smile at someone. One moment can change someone's life forever."

Mailer filmed the actors doing the play, and he plans to ultimately make a documentary about this and other performances as part of his attempt to keep the conversation on American violence going.

The Nauset players will perform "Hello Herman" in the Massachusetts Educational Theater Guild competition, which begins Saturday at Bourne High School.